The full archive. Every era. Every entry.
On March 4, 2002, Navy SEAL Neil Roberts fell from a helicopter onto a mountain peak in eastern Afghanistan. What followed was one of the fiercest small unit battles of the early war—and a Medal of Honor action that defined the meaning of leave no one behind.
Apr 20, 2026
On July 13, 2008, a patrol base in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan was attacked before it was even fully established. Nine American soldiers died in the fiercest fighting of the summer. The battle raised questions about why the outpost had been placed in such a vulnerable location.
Apr 20, 2026
On October 3, 2009, approximately 300 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters attacked Combat Outpost Keating in the remote mountains of Nurestan Province, Afghanistan. Only 53 American soldiers and 40 Afghan allies defended the base. The battle was intense, and questions about why such an isolated and vulnerable outpost existed would linger for years.
Apr 20, 2026
The remotely piloted aircraft became the signature tool of American counterterrorism. The drone war killed thousands, including many civilians. It transformed the nature of warfare, removed geographic constraints, and raised profound legal and moral questions about targeted killing.
Apr 20, 2026
On June 10, 2014, ISIS attacked Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. The Iraqi military forces numbering 30,000 collapsed and fled. ISIS forces estimated at under 1,000 took the city in days. The collapse shocked Washington and accelerated American re-engagement.
Apr 20, 2026
The improvised explosive device became the signature weapon of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Simple to make, impossible to predict, IEDs killed more Americans than direct combat, driving a technological arms race that never quite won and shaping military strategy for two decades.
Apr 20, 2026
The decisions made in the first months after the invasion of Iraq—de-Baathification, disbanding the army, the CPA's governance—created the conditions for a nationwide insurgency. By 2004, American forces were fighting in Fallujah, responding to Shiite militias, and trying to contain a conflict that seemed to expand with each passing month.
Apr 20, 2026
On March 20, 2003, the U.S. launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. The conventional invasion of Iraq was militarily brilliant. The rapid armored assault, the Thunder Run down Highway 8 into Baghdad, the fall of Saddam's statue—all of it seemed to confirm that American military dominance was absolute. But the mission accomplished moment masked the catastrophe that was already beginning.
Apr 20, 2026
General Stanley McChrystal transformed Task Force 714 into a machine for hunting terrorists. The F3EA targeting cycle—Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze—became the model. Special operations raids, nightly across Iraq and Afghanistan, became warfare as an industrial process.
Apr 20, 2026
The Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan was the site of the fiercest fighting. From 2006 to 2010, American soldiers fought Taliban and al-Qaeda in this narrow, steep valley. More Americans died here proportionally than anywhere else in Afghanistan. Yet the valley had no strategic value.
Apr 20, 2026
Operation Anaconda in March 2002 was supposed to be a straightforward hunt for al-Qaeda fighters in the Shah-i-Kot Valley. The plan collapsed within hours. The battles that followed—including the events at Takur Ghar—revealed fundamental weaknesses in intelligence, coordination, and assumptions about what light forces could achieve.
Apr 20, 2026
In October 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom began with a combination of air power and CIA paramilitary operations supporting the Northern Alliance. The rapid collapse of the Taliban surprised observers and suggested that modern military power could achieve quick victories.
Apr 20, 2026
Operation Inherent Resolve began in August 2014 as an international air campaign against ISIS. By 2017, with ground forces, the coalition retaken Mosul and Raqqa. ISIS lost its caliphate but persisted as a terrorist organization.
Apr 20, 2026
From the ashes of al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS emerged. Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a Camp Bucca detainee, ISIS built a network and consolidated power. In June 2014, it declared a caliphate. The organization thought defeated in 2008 had returned far more dangerous.
Apr 20, 2026
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four coordinated attacks killed nearly 3,000 Americans and launched a global military response that would define the next two decades. This is the story of how a nation moved from shock to the decision for war.
Apr 20, 2026
In 2007, the Bush administration deployed an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq under a new counterinsurgency strategy. General David Petraeus implemented FM 3-24, a doctrine focused on protecting the population rather than simply killing insurgents. The Surge brought short-term tactical success, but fundamental political questions remained unanswered.
Apr 20, 2026
